While owing $8,675 in back taxes didn't stop him from pursuing a career in tax collection, it does look bad. Some would say that he is not yet prepared for a political battle.

Sometimes a battle takes endurance.

The tiny population of Porter Township put up its dukes against high taxes in a Goliath-sized fight against East Stroudsburg Area School District.

In 2009, the Porter Township Initiative petitioned to move Porter students to the Wallenpaupack School District. A special committee of the State Board of Education will conduct a public hearing May 16 and 17 in the library of East Stroudsburg High School North.

It is the final step in a four-year battle where the smaller district and township are likely to win. They fought smart by documenting the facts: test grades are higher and taxes are lower in Wallenpaupack.

And then fighting with questionable tactics is the National Park Service, which manages the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area.

NPS is wrestling with a 5 percent budget cut, that is, $473,224 removed from its 2013 budget of $9.4 million.

NPS plans to save money by closing Kittatinny Point, a key access to the Delaware River.

Anyone who enjoys paddling should be interested in this closure. It means the end of short trips on that part of the river. But canoe livery owners who base their businesses on river access are hurt the most financially.

That is why, even though Kittatinny Point is in New Jersey, Pennsylvania state Rep. Rosemary Brown, R-189, arranged a meeting this week to see if there is a way to get that access open for the summer tourism season.

Canoe liveries were represented by two people, owners of separate businesses.

Carl Wilgus, CEO of the Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau, was on his own.

Brown mediated the meeting without assistance.

But Park Superintendent John Donahue, who earns $155,500 annually and should be able to handle a meeting alone, brought an entourage.

A total of five park employees sat around the table.

A few of them never even spoke.

All got paid to be there.

When you go to a meeting crying poverty, you don't bring five employees. It looks bad. And wasteful.